Planning on adding an AI chatbot to your e-commerce site? You’re not alone. Small business owners around the world are discovering how chatbots can help maximize conversions and keep their customers coming back for more. Chatbots not only boost customer engagement and enhance user experience but also help you ensure that your customers are receiving top-notch service and answers to their questions, any time of day or night.
So what’s the best way to go about creating a custom AI chatbot for your site? Here are some of the top tips shared by experts to help get you started.
Define your chatbot’s purpose
While chatbots are popular with business owners in virtually every market, different types of businesses have different uses for their chatbots. To make sure your chatbot is customized to perform exactly as you want it to, you must first identify its purpose and function within your personal business infrastructure. A chatbot that is designed primarily to answer frequently-asked questions about a service-oriented business is going to be different from a chatbot whose main purpose is to drive conversions and assist retail customers with completing a purchase. Make sure you think clearly and thoroughly about what you are hoping your chatbot can do for you.
Figure out where it lives
Does your chatbot appear the moment a visitor navigates to your homepage? Does it only get triggered by someone visiting the FAQ page? Maybe your chatbot only assists with payment once an item is already in your customer’s cart. Whatever the case, you should decide when and where your chatbot should appear during the sales or customer service process. The placement of your chatbot is critical to how users interact with it, whether they find it helpful and whether it helps you achieve your specific goal.
Choose your chatbot platform
Depending on your objectives for utilizing a chatbot, some platforms may be better suited to your needs than others. While some chatbots are designed to help drive sales and engagement, others may be better for helping customers with billing or answering questions. Make sure to do your research to find the best chatbot platform that fits your requirements and can help you achieve your sales or customer service goals.
Test your chatbot
Once your chatbot conversations have been designed using a chatbot editor, it’s important to thoroughly test its functionality. Come up with a number of common scenarios that your customers might find themselves in and see how well your chatbot does answering specific questions and providing assistance. Make note of any gaps or areas where improvement is needed so you can optimize your users’ experience with the chatbot before it ever launches.
AI chatbots allow e-commerce business owners to provide world-class assistance and an easy, convenient and fun experience for their customers 24 hours a day. By understanding what you want out of your chatbot, you can be sure to create one that is just right for you.
